Shaka Soul Surfers (Part 1) : Estefania Holt on Compassion for Parent Partnerships in Recreation

In this episode of the FAST 15 podcast, we are joined by Estefania Holt, founder of Shaka Soul Surfers, a nonprofit organization that brings the joy of surfing to people with developmental disabilities and their families. Estefania's background as a special education teacher, combined with her passion for promoting acceptance and kindness, led her to create a space where individuals with disabilities can experience the thrill of surfing in a safe and supportive environment.

Estefania shares her journey of how she started Shaka Soul Surfers and the impact it has had on the lives of many. She discusses the challenges and successes she has faced, and how her organization provides recreational opportunities and breaks for parents and caregivers. Estefania's dedication to helping others is evident as she speaks about her commitment to creating accessible and inclusive activities for everyone.

In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Estefania's inspiration for creating Shaka Soul Surfers and the process of starting the nonprofit.
- The benefits of surfing and outdoor activities for individuals with disabilities.
- How Estefania works with families and volunteers to ensure everyone has a positive experience.
- Memorable stories and success moments from Estefania's work with Shaka Soul Surfers.

Tune in to learn more about Estefania Holt and her incredible journey of making surfing accessible to all, and be inspired by her dedication to inclusivity and community support.

**Sponsors**
This episode is sponsored by Specially Designed Education Services (SDES), providing innovative tools for empowering teachers and meeting their expressed needs. Learn more about their commitment to building functional academics in special education classrooms at www.sdesworks.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Today's guest on the Fast 15 is a true inspiration who embodies the spirit of inclusivity and positivity. Estefania Holt is the founder of Shaka Soul Surfers, a nonprofit organization that brings the joy of surfing to people with developmental disabilities and their families. Background as a special education teacher and her deep passion for promoting acceptance and kindness. Estefania has dedicated her time to supporting her students and her community through the power of education and surfing. We're thrilled to welcome her to the Fast 15 podcast to hear more about her incredible journey and the impact that she's making. I'm happy that you're here and joined us for just a few minutes to get to know her.

Speaker 1: 0:48

I want to introduce everybody to Estefania Holt, and she is an incredible contributor to the community with her Shaka Soul Surfer business, and really it's something that started with the special needs community. She was, like I said in the intro, a teacher and really has a heart for this community the disability community. And so, estefania, welcome to the Fast 15. I'm so happy to have a chance to talk to you and get to know you more. One I absolutely love board sports, and so that's one love that we both share, although you are total pro and I'm just like somebody who would love to learn surfing. But you also really have a heart for the disability community and loving kids and their families and finding those connections for recreation and making the connections to life after high school. So welcome to the Fast 15. Can you tell us a little bit about where Shaka Soul Surfers business started and just fill us in? We want to get to know you a little bit.

Speaker 2: 1:57

Yeah for sure. Thanks for having me on. This is so exciting. It's my first ever podcast, and second off come to Florida. I will definitely get you on a board. I'm guarantee you will be standing by the end of it.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Great, that would be awesome.

Speaker 2: 2:10

Yeah, Basically, as you said in the introduction, I was a teacher. I started teaching. I started more like I started volunteering in 2014. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I just didn't know what I wanted to do.

Speaker 2: 2:24

So I started volunteering at a special needs school and luckily, that special needs school grew and then they offered me a position as a one-to-one, or a para as they call it, in public school, and then I was a teacher assistant and then a teacher and I just really took a step back and listened at what was needed, because going to school, the population I worked is, you know, I think are called level three or four now, but back then it was called low functioning and I didn't know that there was a population like this. So I started working at a school called Super School. It's in Plantation Florida and it was just school and therapies and ABA, PT, OT. We had it all in the school and these parents were like this is all that they do and I was like, as typical people, we go to school, we go to band, we go to cheerleading, we have sports. There is a lack of resources and more recreational resources for kids with this type of disabilities. And in school we have varying disabilities.

Speaker 2: 3:30

It wasn't just autism. We had seizure disorders, rare genetic disorders and our kids had behaviors and all these parents were like there's nothing I can put my kid in. So my coworker, Kira, she surfs, and I was trying to find a nonprofit that I can open that didn't require large amounts of money, Because I know when you open things, when it comes to building and permits and learning from the special needs school, it's millions of dollars. I did not have that. I didn't know anybody who had that, so I was trying to open something that I can do recreationally with Stimple. So I opened Chaka Soul Surfers. We just hang out on the beach for a couple of weeks on Saturdays and just have a great time.

Speaker 1: 4:10

What I love is your passion, your interest, your background, meshed with what you saw as a need in the community you were serving, and the ability to mirror and play alongside and I don't mean just play like elementary school students are playing, just enjoying an activity together and getting people out and doing something that you love. What I love about that is that your passion, you've blended that together. So can you share one memorable experience or a success story from your time at when you were teaching in the classroom that really led you to that, the Shaka Soul Surfers business and that and the activities that you're providing for the community?

Speaker 2: 5:02

I just have a specific memory of in this community, these parents that are burnt out. I've seen parents that are in tears. I have been in meetings where these parents are in tears. So in terms of, in general down here in Florida, unfortunately, the public school system, the private school systems, we get all these kids that were either kicked out. Unfortunately, they were abused, there was a lot of things that were going on that led them to our school and we are equipped for them and these parents are in tears.

Speaker 2: 5:34

My kids get kicked out of here. They can't do anything. I can't get them into here, I can't get them into there and I'm like this is horrible. These parents can't get therapies. The insurance isn't working. I've been waiting five years and my kids are getting more aggressive or their speech is decreasing because we can't get something.

Speaker 2: 5:52

I was like I feel bad. I wanted to do something fun for them, that they didn't have to worry about being waitlisted. Insurance With Shaka Soul Servers as a nonprofit, we do charge, but my fees are so low. It is something that they don't have to go through insurance. They'll just pay me what they can pay me.

Speaker 2: 6:08

I have scholarship programs just for them to have fun, because, nevermind, or they're focused on their kids getting speech and OT and PT and ABA therapy or surgeries or wait listed for things. Like that was like on the back of their mind, something fun, and I was like I just want to do something for them that they didn't have to like struggle so hard to get to. And, like I said before, like they're humans too, like they want to have fun too and it's not fair for us again to go to high school, to go to middle school, to be homeschooled, and we have extracurriculars or we do dance or we do theater or we do track. These kids are had nothing, let alone for them to get into a program that that is catered to special needs, but really they don't cater.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Yeah, it's not accommodated for them specifically. Right Well listeners. In the field of special education, it's so important to continually find ways to collaborate closely with parents and caregivers to meet the diverse needs of the students we're serving. This partnership is really essential for creating enriching academic and recreational opportunities that are accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Estefania Holt's dedication with Shaka Soul Surfers stands as a prime example of how compassion in our approach can result in significant improvements in special education and inclusivity. A special thanks to our sponsor, sdes, for leading in this way with effective tools for empowering teachers and meeting their expressed needs. Now here's a quick message from SDES.

Speaker 3: 7:49

Functional Academics by SDES's collaborative work with educators and families, just like you, provides an in-depth understanding of your needs in the community we serve. You've asked, we listen, it's coming. Stay tuned with more to come at SDESworkscom.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Thank you, sdes, for your continued commitment to innovative approaches to building functional academics in our special education classrooms and for your support of our FAST15 champions. Now let's get back to this episode and our conversation. One of the things that I'm thinking about is just, you are providing all of that in a fun environment. You're providing communication support. You're providing those opportunities for speech, language to happen in a generalized recreational situation. But there's social skills, there's physical PT. Oh, there's so much that continued growth can happen in the surfing environment. Right, absolutely Focusing on just work or all of those things that you just listed that are therapy on therapy.

Speaker 1: 9:15

How about the fun part of life, instead of just focusing on from one agency to the next and who's going to be caring for my child? Now let's have a situation where we can go out and play. Tell me about the whole process for somebody that's interested in Shaka Soul Surfers and they're hearing oh, that's an opportunity for my young adult with a disability, my child with a disability. Tell about the process. What would they be doing when they find out about you? They come to your website. What's the process from start to finish for their involvement? Can you timeline that out for us?

Speaker 2: 9:49

Yeah, absolutely so. There's a lot of us in my community of Shaka Soul Surfers, but I primarily run it. My phone number is on there, my Shaka Soul Surfers email, which is literally connected to me. It's not, you know, corporations. They have other people handling things, it's all me. So they either are recommended by word of mouth, they find me on the website, they shoot me a text, they shoot me an email, I call them and what's important to me is I make everything accessible.

Speaker 2: 10:14

So if they call me and say, hey, listen, my kid might be interested in doing this, what can I do? First of all, we'll offer a trial, because it's not for everybody and we've never had an issue with anybody but sometimes it's overstimulating or it doesn't happen right away or they couldn't make it to the beach because of sensory issues. We give it a trial and if they're interested, they can proceed, and if they're not interested, that's a free lesson that they got. And for them to say, hey, listen, maybe next year we'll try it again. Or if they're like, no, I want to put my kid in this, you pick the time and you pick the Saturday you want to do it at. We have a lot of parents that do it in June only, or we do it every other weekend, or we have them do it all eight, six weeks, depending on how long the program is, and they just come out and try it. Every parent is so nervous, they're so scared. This is for fun. I'm not going to make your kid do it. If you want me to push them, I will.

Speaker 2: 11:12

One specific story I had is I had one kid. We used to play with the kid on the board in the sand and by the end of the session which was like I think it was nine weeks at the time, the last session he went on the board and just hung out on the board, which was like for us it was a win. And what's even crazier about that story is the mom signed up for the next summer. He remembered that first lesson. He was on the board and he stayed on the board that whole time. So again, with schools and therapies, it's there for you to push, which is really good because you have to push forward to have any sort of reward, especially for speech and OT. But for us it's fun and if we're working through something that's a little different, but it's still it's them for the parents to not have to worry like my kid is going to hate this and we have to do it because we have to do it. That's not what I want for them.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Yes, Can you highlight just your strategies for parents that are really nervous to let go to that activity that they've never experienced before? How do you actually put people at ease? Just your personal strategies to do that.

Speaker 2: 12:22

So my main goal, besides the kids that are doing this, is for the parents to get a break. Okay, and so the parents are on site, they're at the beach, they don't leave because we're not a camp, it's an hour lesson and it's just for them to just.

Speaker 2: 12:36

I think the issue is they're just scared because it's a public place and a lot of parents are like people are looking at me and then they do get embarrassed. Okay, my kid does manipulate, he does pull hair, he does scream, he does like we don't care. You know what I mean. I've noticed when I talk to each parent which is rightfully so they're in their own bubble and they don't realize that there's different types of disabilities, different types of behaviors. We don't care, and that's what I try to tell my parents. Like your kid can scream all they want and have people come and look at me and they can come and talk to me.

Speaker 2: 13:11

I've been so blessed to have all the volunteers that don't care at all and just be like listen, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. You don't have to say sorry, we're not mad and we're not going to kick you out, which is a asterisk effect of what they've been treated with in the community in general and it's sad and that's why I want to create also an atmosphere of if I get spit in the face, I'm going to make your kid keep going, I'm not going to kick him out, because that is his way of communication. He's scared, he's frustrated, and that's okay as long as you're okay with it and at the end they generally have a great time. Oh yeah, the nervousness. So that's what I tell our parents. I really can't care less about everybody else. It's about you and your child at that moment.

Speaker 1: 14:01

We will have to push pause on our conversation here, but if you're like me, you're really intrigued to learn more about how a service provider like Shaka Soul Surfers can develop successful volunteers and community members to champion the cause of inclusive recreation and community support. In our next episode, we will learn in more detail about Estefania Holt and her mission to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities through surfing and having fun. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on our next episode of the Fast 15. And until next time, keep being the champions. You are in your own corner of the world.

Speaker 4: 14:41

A heartfelt thank you to our generous sponsors. Specially Designed Education Services. Publishers of the Functional Academics Program. Please take a moment to learn more about the only true comprehensive functional academics program that enables students with moderate to severe disabilities to improve their ability to live independently and show meaningful growth both academically and personally, while creating accountability with data-driven, evidence-based results. Visit wwwsdesworkscom to learn more.